Dialysis clinics provide new path for delivery of stockpiled COVID-19 antibody drugs in U.S.

Exclusive-Dialysis clinics provide new path for delivery of stockpiled COVID-19 antibody drugs in U.S. Dialysis centers in the United States are rolling out COVID-19 antibody treatments this week, a new path for delivery of Eli Lilly and Regeneron drugs approved for emergency use but facing skepticism and logistical problems in some hospitals. Deena Beasley U.S.

(Reuters) - Dialysis centers in the United States are rolling out COVID-19 antibody treatments this week, a new path for delivery of Eli Lilly and Regeneron drugs approved for emergency use but facing skepticism and logistical problems in some hospitals.

Supplies of the drugs are piling up as hospitals grapple with overflowing wards and mass vaccinations. Kidney dialysis patients are among those most at risk from COVID-19, which is especially deadly among people with chronic illnesses.

Nearly half a million doses of the treatments, manufactured copies of proteins the body produces to combat the virus, have been allocated, but only about 21% of those have been administered, according to the latest statistics from the Department of Health and Human Services.

Fresenius Medical Care, the largest kidney dialysis provider in the United States, said it plans to begin administering the intravenous treatments nationwide this week at facilities dedicated to handling COVID-19 patients or during shifts set up for only those patients.

Smaller dialysis provider U.S. Renal Care said it will begin this week to dispense bamlanivimab, Eli Lilly and Co’s antibody drug, to its patients recently diagnosed with COVID-19.

Timely use of the treatment could help reduce hospital admissions, said Mary Dittrich, the dialysis company’s chief medical officer.

Some doctors have questioned the efficacy of the new treatments, which in any case are complicated to use, taking two hours to infuse and monitor a patient.

“Hospitals aren’t always set up for outpatient infusions. When they are it is typically in environments where compromised patients might be,” said Michael Ganio, senior director of pharmacy practice at the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists. ...